2009 Camry 2AZ-FE with 90k miles was flushed with green coolant

50yr Street Mech said:
Sorry to hear that iCurious. What can I say ? Toyota screwed up one of their best engines ever they ever manufactured. It's a shame :(. Just keep a close eye on the oil level. I remember when this all happened. A co-worker bought a used 2009 Rav 4. He kept complaining that the idiot light was coming on and the engine was out of oil. I didn't believe him. I said " Really ? The 2AZ-FE engine ? . You probably never changed the crush washer, and it was drippin oil. " Little did I know....I had a 1974 Chevy Vega 4cyl/ automatic. Used just about 4 qts. of oil in 180 highway miles. Had to plumb a breather hose under the car & tie it up to something. That's how much oil it was pushin ring blow-by. I don't think you're Toyota will ever get that bad. Best of luck :)
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A 2009 RAV4 would have a 2AR-FE, not a 2AZ. At least that’s what’s in my wife’s 2009 RAV.
 
Not going to start a new thread. Will continue the conspiracy here. Check out attached pics. Those will eagle eyes please chime in and share your knowledge.

For context - this vehicle was a used car with 93K miles. During inspection, I had found 3 peculiar things. First, was why is there green coolant. Second, why is there one missing nut on the header. Third, missing nut below the first catalytic converter. Vehicle does have vibration in drive at a stand still.

What I have done: replaced air filter and found out the air filter housing was loose, 2 missing nuts to hold it down. I removed the entire intake boot and air cleaner housing and found they had replaced the heater hose below and some remnants of coolant on top of the transmission housing. Cleaned the throttle body and installed everything back together. Also replaced a brand new air filter and cleaned the MAF sensor. Also replaced the PCV valve and hose.

Next - I removed the engine cover and found out all the coil connectors were broken. Removed spark plugs and all of them has rust on the tip. Spark plugs seems to be replaced before. Is this a concern? I looked around and on the left side below the header where the missing nut was, I see 2 types of grease. I am assuming it grey silicone and also a gold-ish grease looks similar to permatex nickel grease? It makes me ponder has the head been removed?

So let’s back up. Green coolant, rusty spark plugs and missing nuts. Could this engine had overheated in the past?

I opened the radiator and I did see orange specks.

What do you guys think?

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1st off, my mistake. I texted my ex co-worker, he had a 2008 Rav 4 with the 2AZ-FE engine. I was off by a year. Getting old. ( Seems like yesterday though LOL ! ) The year he had that truck was 2009. Man, time flies !!!! He retired in 2019. I retired in 2022. Back to the conspiracy thingy. With all those missing/loose nuts and bolts, in all different areas, something BIG went down on that engine, in my opinion. In almost 50 yrs, I've never seen an exhaust header nut come loose. I mean, good luck just getting them off if you need to change the Cat, or the header due to corrosion. 2nd, I have yet to see a Denso coil pack go bad, let alone all 4 of them. It's obvious the plugs are still original from the day it was built. The stuff floating around in the coolant is telling me the head was taken off, or they dumped something in the radiator to stop a head gasket leak... The rusty ground electrodes mean water getting in somewhere. I'd say the heater hose blew, it overheated,,blew the head gasket. Someone took the head off, never checked it for cracks or warp, and just slapped another gasket on it. Real shoe-maker mechanic. Then the owner sold it. It's possible, it happened to me when I was a kid. Bought an 89' Regal Gran Sport. Gorgeous/ immaculate. I was a kid. Never popped the rad cap. After a month, kept smelling antifeeze. No leaks. Popped the rad cap. Loaded with Bars Stop Leak. In the shop it went for 2 head gaskets. BUT, they did it right. Cost me an arm and a leg to get it done right. The heads were sent out and everything. 3rd, as for the vibration....,,that could be anything from a worn motor mount, to a tranny needing service, or bad plugs, dirty throttle throat, dirty fuel injector. Aftermarket motor mounts are notorious for vibration too. That's all I got. :)
 
Update: Performed the head gasket block tester and there was no evidence of exhaust gas in the coolant. Did the flush 4 times now the coolant is back to pink. Happy with the results. On the side note, when drain the engine oil, it reeks fuel and it was very watery. The last oil change was done less than 1000 miles ago. The color of the oil was golden yellow.

Also replaced the ATF it was black. Used VRP 5W30 now the engine runs very smooth.
 
X15 said:
The potential problem is that the green coolant might contain silicates. Silicates and phosphates can interact with each other and cause accelerated corrosion. The lower the concentration of silicates the more likely it becomes that they will interact negatively.
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Homeopathy "works" that way. Chemistry, not so much.
 
The engine oil reeks of fuel ?..,,and watery ??? I'm no expert by no means at all. I would have a fuel pressure test done. You may have a leaky fuel injector. Dumping fuel in the oil when engine is turned off.
 
iCurious said:
Yep. Low tension rings due to CAFE.
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Slightly off topic but it’s the OP’s comment so I’m going to run with it………..

School me on how using low tension piston rings aids in meeting or exceeding CAFE.

And I’m only familiar with Toyota using them. Are they used more widely in the automotive industry?
 
dkryan said:
Slightly off topic but it’s the OP’s comment so I’m going to run with it………..

School me on how using low tension piston rings aids in meeting or exceeding CAFE.

And I’m only familiar with Toyota using them. Are they used more widely in the automotive industry?
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Less friction.
 
50yr Street Mech said:
The engine oil reeks of fuel ?..,,and watery ??? I'm no expert by no means at all. I would have a fuel pressure test done. You may have a leaky fuel injector. Dumping fuel in the oil when engine is turned off.
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The fuel trims are in the single digits. I also don't have any start up issues.
 
nthach said:
Funny enough, Volvo is starting to use a SiPHOAT coolant called G-64(BASF’s code name), and old school “low silicate”(not Prestone) green mixed with an SCA worked OK in diesels.
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Interesting. But don’t think for a moment that I wouldn’t go back to the seventies, where you just grabbed your yellow bottle of Prestone, and you were good to go.
 
nthach said:
Funny enough, Volvo is starting to use a SiPHOAT coolant called G-64(BASF’s code name), and old school “low silicate”(not Prestone) green mixed with an SCA worked OK in diesels.
Click to expand...

It can work okay when a blender keeps everything balanced, when done in a less controlled fashion the results can be disastrous.

X

Thread 'The US Army's Search for a Universal Extended Life Coolant Specification'

I recently stumbled across some very interesting coolant research that directly pertains to some of the discussions that have been taking place here recently, I've attempted to summarize it:

Currently the US Army is using conventional green Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT) coolant with Supplemental Coolant Additive (SCA) and changing it annually instead of testing and recharging it. This is obviously quite expensive and wasteful, so they decided to look at moving to an Extended Life Coolant (ELC) that would be suitable for all the numerous different vehicles the Army fields.

They started...
  • Like
  • Helpful
  • Wow
 
TomYoung said:
Interesting. But don’t think for a moment that I wouldn’t go back to the seventies, where you just grabbed your yellow bottle of Prestone, and you were good to go.
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And funny enough, Prestone added silicate to protect aluminum - but the Japanese found phosphate was much better at passivating Al than silicate was.

Mercedes is a big fan of silicate but in lower doses in combination with an organic acid and borate as the original G-05 coolant they used. There’s time-release silicate in the surge tanks of a modern Benz.
 
X15 said:
You wouldn't think chemistry works that way, and yet it can:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44581254

I'm not saying that it will, there's too many variables to say for sure, but unlike homeopathy the effect can be very real.
Click to expand...
Interesting article. It is not saying quite what you think, though. It indicates negative impact below a certain level of silicates, which is fine. It discusses the protective benefits. It doesn’t say that it gets lower and gets worse.

Homeopathy is stupid and does say that with their moronic “law of infinitesimals,” which states that the active ingredient becomes more effective when the concentration is decreased. Adherents have a naming scheme and offer some products diluted to having less than one molecule in Avogadro’s number of the effective “medicine.” Not the same thing.
 
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